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On his show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver breaks down popular and often misunderstood subjects in factual and hilarious rants that take on any debatable topic and lays out all the cards. If you’ve been following coverage of the ongoing fight for iPhone encryption between Apple and the FBI, you’ll nod along, laugh, and gain further insight. If you haven’t, here’s your crash course. He begins, “You may not think about encryption much, but it is pretty fundamental to all of our lives.”

“Let us loop you in,” is Apple’s tagline for the March event, officially set to take place on March 21. Rumors as to whether the event would take place on March 15 or March 21 have been circulating for months and now we have our answer. On Thursday, Apple sent out its invitations to select press for its event in Cupertino, California. Apple is expected to debut the 4-inch iPhone SE and a smaller version of the iPad Pro.

On Feb 25, Apple filed an official motion opposing the US court order for the company to help FBI unlock the iPhone 5c, recovered from the San Bernardino shooter. This controversial subject that has divided public opinion continues as more and more tech companies stand with Apple with even the United Nations coming to Apple’s defense. Last night, Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, published an op-ed with the Washington Post stating that to help the FBI would “slow our pace, reverse our progress, [and] puts everyone at risk.”

UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has warned “Pandora’s box” will be opened if the FBI can force Apple to comply with its demands. Following the San Bernardino shooting, the FBI recovered the shooter’s iPhone and filed a US court order which would require Apple to create a software to break into it. Apple has stated it never intended to create this iOS as the only way to protect data from the software is to never create it. Apple’s list of supporters has been growing with human rights groups and fellow tech companies coming to its defense. Now, the United Nations is standing with Apple too.

Apple has created an official Twitter support account, “We’re here to provide tips, tricks, and helpful information when you need it most.” Multiple other large companies use Twitter’s 140 character count to provide real-time support. @AppleSupport allows you to tweet the company regarding its products and services and get a direct reply back to your question. They’re even encouraging Direct Messages for further details on an issue.

Today, Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell will appear before the House Judiciary Committee. This is where the fight over whether or not the FBI should be allowed to force Apple to create a backdoor version of iOS comes to a head. Sewell will go up against a skeptical crowd including Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and a number of House representatives who have been vocal supporters of the FBI’s stance in the past. Here’s the opening remarks Sewell will begin with and they’re worth the read.

We’re less than a month away from Apple’s first big event of the year. The latest rumors indicate Apple will hold its keynote event the week of March 21, instead of the previously thought March 15. Apple’s Spring event will likely be slightly smaller in scale; rumors indicate the company will hold the event at the Town Hall Auditorium on the 1 Infinite Loop campus. It was originally thought we’d see a new Apple Watch 2, but the rumor mill seems to now agree that will have to wait until September. Here’s everything you need to know about the products we do expect Apple to release in March.

By now, we’re all aware of the US court order for Apple to create a tool (which would essentially work as a Master Key) that allows the FBI to access information on the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone 5c. Apple has refused, and the company plans to make a formal appeal with top free speech lawyers in the next couple days. With the company’s refusal has come loads of support from other major tech companies, rights groups, and iPhone users while garnering criticism from Donald Trump. Meanwhile, cybersecurity legend John McAfee has said he and his team will hack the shooter’s iPhone for free, and it will only take them three weeks to do it.

Last night, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with David Muir of ABC World News to discuss the ongoing controversy between Apple and the FBI regarding iPhone encryption. By now, it’s well known that a US Federal Judge has court ordered Apple to help the FBI break into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. Apple has hired lawyers to appeal the order and argues that the case should go through Congress and the proper channels of law. The full interview with Cook was nearly 30 minutes long. ABC aired only a small portion, but you can watch the full interview below.

Steve Jobs would be 61 today, and it’s been another fantastic year for Apple. Tim Cook as Steve Jobs’ successor has been the best of CEO transitions you could hope for. And amidst the privacy war between Apple and the FBI, I think Steve Jobs would be even more proud of how his company is handling itself not only in finances and innovation, but as a progressive company leading the charge for privacy rights. This last year we also saw the release of the semi-biopic Steve Jobs movie which looks at the man behind the work; however, the best way to understand someone who’s no longer with us is to hear what they had to say when they were.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook has released an open letter to customers announcing the company's opposition to an order from a US Federal Judge which would require Apple to help the FBI access data on the iPhone 5c used by the San Bernardino shooter. Cook explains exactly what the FBI is trying to do, what old laws they’re using to do it, and expresses his concern for the democracy of America, “Ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”


Remember English class in High School when you had to learn when to use ‘they’ and when to use ‘his or her’? For example, “Everybody loves their own mother,” when grammatically correct should read, “Everybody loves his or her own mother.” Personally, I have always thought rules like this make people hate grammar. But the outdated rule also excludes non-binary and outside of binary individuals. To remedy that, the Washington Post and even Merriam Webster accepts ‘they’ as a singular pronoun. We at iPhone Life do too, and we wanted to let you know about the change.

Well that didn’t last long. After Google released its Q4 earnings this week, its parent company Alphabet saw stock prices surge to over $800 due to the strong results. This sequence of events caused Alphabet’s market capitalization to reach $540 billion, surpassing Apple as the world’s most valuable company. But the 8% increase in Alphabet’s stock value didn’t last and as the market closed yesterday evening, Apple found itself back on top.

Surely, whether you’re Apple’s biggest fan or not, we can all agree the company’s marketing likes to buoy its own innovation and epic-ness. From the iPhone 6s tagline, “The only thing that’s changed is everything,” to the Apple Watch copy, “To wear it is to love it,” Apple is great at declaring the significance of its own products. That’s why Buzzfeed’s “If McDonald’s Advertised Like Apple” remains to be fantastically hilarious and deserves a throwback nod of appreciation.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet just passed Apple as the most valuable company in the world. After Alphabet released its Q4 earnings last night, stock prices shot up 8% causing the company’s combined share classes to reach $554 billion, surpassing Apple’s $534 billion. This is the first time a company has surpassed Apple in four years since Apple vaulted Exxon Mobile in 2012.

If you have stock in Apple, take a sigh of relief. Yesterday afternoon the company announced record quarterly profit, netting $18.4 billion dollars in Q1 2016. “Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. The quarter, which ended December 26, 2015, saw record breaking revenue as well, raking in $75.9 billion dollars. Wall Street warned Apple’s soaring numbers couldn’t last, but the company continues its upward climb.. for now.

Virtual reality is starting to go from a developers-only situation to a common consumer situation. CES in Las Vegas is full of such products, proving that VR is for everyone with the many different companies here showing off their latest and greatest. The first step to getting consumers into the virtual reality market is giving them something familiar and easy to use–Speck has done just that with its new Pocket VR viewer ($69.95, available Spring 2016).

CES in Las Vegas is a giant annual convention featuring the latest in consumer tech. Product trends span the field from virtual reality and electric cars, to personal drones and wearable tech. Since I haven’t mastered being in multiple places at once, I decided to put a video roundup together to showcase what’s happening across the CES floor. Here’s five videos featuring new tech that expands the reach of possibilities and showcases where the 2016 focus will be. 

CES, the Consumer Electronics Show of the year is upon us. Already we’re seeing awesome products from new companies and new products from awesome companies. Fitbit, the wearable tech company, took this opportunity to announce its new smart wearable ‘Blaze’ with a square face and touch screen display. Like an Apple Watch, the Fitbit Blaze ($199.95) will be able to alternate between different bands, but per Fitbit’s standard, the watch will focus on fitness tracking. However, it will also receive Smart Notifications such as calls, text messages, and calendar events.

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